


Old Familiar Place

by strippedhalo



Category: NSYNC, Popslash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-03
Updated: 2011-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-17 12:46:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/176986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strippedhalo/pseuds/strippedhalo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justin comes home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Familiar Place

_We lost touch long ago  
You lost weight_

* * *

Justin had hardly shut the door to his rental car before he was grabbed, twisted, and manhandled over someone's shoulder. The ground pitched beneath his head as his assailant took off in an awkward run - more of a lurch, really - around the side of the house. He hadn't gotten any sort of look at his impromptu body chauffeur, but the rear end his face was so close to looked suspiciously like Joey's, and when he twisted his head around he could see Chris's little feet running along behind.

It had been a long time since Justin had been thrown into a pool, but not so long that he didn't remember how to fight back. He locked his arms around Joey's waist at just the right moment and held on, overbalancing him so he fell in with Justin, kicking and squawking indignantly. Justin surfaced, blinking water out of his eyes, and there was Chris at the edge of the pool, doubled over and slapping his knees with exaggerated glee. It was like being home, Justin thought, and then Joey grabbed him from behind, and Chris jumped in right on top, grabbing them both in a bear hug that nearly drowned the three of them all together.

Definitely like being home. It was great.

* * *

Joey made them strip to their boxers and towel off before he'd let them in the house. "Kelly'll have my balls if you drip all over the new carpet," he said by way of explanation when Chris gave him the evil eye.

Chris made a noise like a whip cracking, and that's how Justin knew he didn't have a girlfriend. When Justin turned to shut the sliding door, Chris goosed him, and then looked at the ceiling, whistling innocently, and that's how Justin knew he didn't have a boyfriend, either. JC had told him as much, every time they'd talked since the last time Justin had seen Chris, but it was nice to have confirmation from the man, himself.

"Where's JC?" he asked when they were reclothed and settled around the big island in the kitchen.

"Out with Lance, pretending he doesn't know that he's being distracted while we set up for the big par-tay tonight." Joey did a little dance around the room that somehow ended with Justin holding a bag of pornographic party balloons and Chris brandishing a roll of tape. "Move it, ladies," Joey thwapped Chris on the butt with a feather duster. "Our boy's getting married tomorrow and it's our job to send him off with style."

* * *

Justin sat on Joey's kitchen counter, eating pretzels while he listened to JC having cold feet.

"I mean. Married. I love her, like, more than I can say, but _married_. That's, like, huge." JC looked up at Justin, eyes wide and scared. "Wow."

"C." Justin put one hand on JC's head, the base of his palm resting on the bridge of JC's nose and fingers spread out over JC's skull. "It's gonna be fine. Better than fine. It's gonna be amazing, man. Seriously. This is the right thing to do. Stop freaking yourself out and enjoy it." He grinned and ruffled JC's newly-trimmed  
curls. "You're getting fucking _married_ , man!"

"Yeah," JC breathed in wonderment. "Married. Wow."

Chris came into the kitchen then, walking up behind JC. He ran his hands up JC's sides, catching all of the ticklish spots to make JC squirm and twist away from his prying fingers, giggling. Justin caught JC's hand before he could escape and pulled him close to whisper in his ear, "Love you, C." JC squeezed him hard, for a long time, until Chris started tickling again and JC fled back to the living room, where the party was still going strong.

Chris stepped into the space JC had vacated, between Justin's feet where they kicked at the cabinets. He ran a hand over Justin's knee, then halfway up his thigh, fingers spreading out to press at the lean muscle beneath custom-aged denim. His other hand came up to rub at Justin's side, not tickling but feeling, measuring.

"I don't think you used to be so skinny," he said, finally. "What happened to Mr. Sixpack? You're all bony now."

Justin shrugged, and Chris rolled his eyes. "So what's up with you, then?" Chris asked, poking Justin in the side and making him jump, feet banging off cupboard doors. "I mean, you never call, you never write. I have to get all my gossip from Lance..." He poked harder, twisting his finger just under Justin's bottom rib.

Justin groaned and pushed Chris's hand away from his midsection. "I suck at keeping in touch, Chris. You _know_ this."

"I have to get all my gossip from _Lance_ ," Chris repeated, worming his hand up under Justin's arm. "If Lance gets gossip, I should get gossip. Why you don't give me no gossip?"

"Lance has, like, private investigators, dude. I don't talk to the guy for six months and he'd still know what I had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And anyway," Justin hooked a leg around Chris's hips, bringing him closer, body pressed against the counter, "you've got all my numbers. You could call me any time you wanted to."

"Do you want me to?"

Justin leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Chris's. He looked Chris straight in the eye and held his gaze for a long moment. "Don't be stupid," he said.

"Ok." Chris's eyes flickered downward, and then back up. "You're not... with anyone. Right?"

"Right." Justin slid his face down and to the side, nuzzling Chris's cheek.

"Good." Chris's voice shook just slightly. "Good. I'm not with anyone, either."

Justin smiled against Chris's skin. "I know." He placed little kisses down Chris's neck.

"You wanna, um." Chris's hands clenched against Justin's abdomen. "You maybe wanna be with me, then?"

Justin wrapped his other leg around Chris's waist. "Yes," he said, wiggling off the counter, leaving Chris holding him up.

"Oof!" Chris said, bending forward slightly to catch Justin's weight before standing straight again. "Christ, you weigh a lot."

Justin laughed. "Ten seconds ago you said I was too skinny," he pointed out. He curved his neck, craning down for a kiss, but Chris just nipped at his bottom lip and growled.

"That was before I realized your tiny stick body was actually made of lead. Jesus. What do you _eat_ , kid?"

"You're just out of shape, old man." Justin tried again to steal a kiss, and this time Chris let him, opening at the gentle insistence of Justin's tongue. Justin tightened his legs around Chris's waist, shifting his weight a bit higher, and slid his hands into Chris's soft, dark hair.

"Old man?" Justin didn't realize they were moving until his back was pressed into the wall beside the door. "Did you just call me an old man?" Chris proved himself to be an able multi-tasker, holding Justin up with one hand and fumbling to open the sliding door with the other.

The night air was cool after the warmth of the kitchen, but Justin hardly noticed. What he noticed was the way Chris's breath hitched whenever Justin kissed him, and the way he held Justin so tightly, making sure he wouldn't fall. "Mmmm, not _too_ old," Justin said, finally. "Just old enough. Like finely aged- _shit_!"

His analogy was abruptly cut off when Chris threw him into the pool. Caught utterly off-guard, Justin had no time to prepare, and went into the water alone. He came up sputtering and cursing, with Chris's insane cackle ringing in his ears.

"You are so dead." A brief war ensued, with Chris pushing Justin back into the pool when he tried to pull himself out, and Justin managing to catch hold of Chris long enough to yank him into the water, where he screeched about the cold and getting water up his nose.

Eventually, they settled down, and Justin wrapped his legs around Chris's waist again, bobbing gently as the ripples in the pool faded out.

"As I was saying..."

* * *

 _I did not know  
You could ever look so good  
After so much time_

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Don't Ask Me Why: A Chris-Centric Challenge in 2003.


End file.
